
■w^m0 



^% 






^*%-'¥ 



^> 



^^- 



1»-~- 



X, 



LIBRARY OF 


CONGRE 


^Ae//... 


i 9 18- 
.4, 3 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



|£J 




'^j 



^>>C. 





'^/H^ 


f- 


■%y?^ 




s 


^^ 




^ 


^% 



rV 



■^1 



',. T. 



X 



\ ■ 




^ 

^'F 




^ 


• ^ J 




1^*- -i 




Pv 









Cflinmemoratiflu 0f Maslnntftoiu 



DISCOURSE 



(ON THE NEW HOLIDAY,) 



PREACHEn IN 



HARVARD CHURCH, CHARLESTOWN, 



ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 22, 1857. 



GEORGE E. ELLIS. 



CHARLESTOWN : 

ABRAM E. CUTTER, 

18 5 7. 







J. H. EASTBURN'S PRESS, 

No. 14 State Street, Boston. 



1 



DISCOURSE. 



LUKE VII: 4-5. 
" He was worthy for whom wb should do this, for he loved our nation." * 

Our State, our whole nation in fact, has inaugu-- 
rated a new holiday. Popular feeling and legislative 
enactments have decided that, henceforward, the birth- 
day of Washington shall be treated as a public fes- 
tival. There is no opposing feeling, no remonstrance 
to the measure. It carries with it a general consent 
of sympathy. He is felt to be worthy for whom we 
are to do this ; for he loved our nation ; he made 
it a nation. And yet it is a great tribute ! The 
highest public homage which the people of the whole 
earth render to the Supreme Being is in consecrat- 
ing to him a weekly Sabbath; in rescuing one day 
in each week from common uses, and calling it holy 
to God. The power of the religious sentiment in 
general, and in its particular and specific directions, 
has also been strikingly manifested in the setting up 
of yearly holydays among tribes, peoples and nations. 

* I have ventured here to transgress a rule, the rigid terms of which I most heartily accept, 
and for trifling with which I make this apology ; a rule which censures the application of a 
Scripture text for constructive uses, and forbids a change of its phraseology except to correct 
it. The two words distinguished by the type were substituted for those in the Scripture sen- 
tence, under a strong temptation found in the admirable fitness of the sentiment for the use 
desired. 



Strong- faith and fresh feeling, and a real or sup- 
posed authority, an occasion, an adequate purpose are 
required to make the mark on such a day, to estab- 
lish it, to win its first regard in spontaneous senti- 
ment. Masses of men and women require a reason 
for such an observance. They will not suspend their 
toil nor forego their private pleasure, to weep or to 
rejoice, to lament or to dance, unless they know why 
they should do so, and can answer with theh hearts 
to the call upon them. Once established, with a 
good reason, a sufficient occasion, the day will retain 
by national or religious associations the claim which 
it first advanced. Pleasant hopes will anticipate its 
coming, and happy memories will linger after its 
departure. So were the three great Jewish Feasts 
consecrated. The observance of them by the people 
was the most signal token not only of their firm 
belief in their religion, but also that they had good 
reasons for that belief in the occurrence of events, in 
the facts which those days commemorated. So the 
Passover, and the Feasts of Tabernacles and of Pen- 
tecost carried with them the warrant on a people's 
faith and love. 

Thus Patriotism — the sentiment which, next to Re- 
ligion, has the most power on the common, human 
heart — consecrates its high, annual festivals, and gives 
them the names of great or good men, or dates 
them in the calendar by the occasions furnished 
in a revolution, a battle, or a victory. If we were 
to follow out in thought the process by which any 



such public festive day wins a full and hearty 
recognition, we should find many interesting sug- 
gestions on the way, upon which, however, we can- 
not now dwell. Some space of time is generally 
needed to secure such a result, even where the 
occasion is of itself most worthy of commemora- 
tion. Especially is this so when it is proposed to 
make any one day a holiday, or a holyday, in 
commemoration of the birth, the character, and the 
services of a distinguished man. Two processes 
must have transpired before that purpose can tri- 
umph. The trial-test of time must have proved 
the man himself to have been worthy of the hon- 
or ; that is the first condition ; and the second is, 
that a whole people must be so well informed 
upon the merits of the case, and so able and 
ready to appreciate the high character or the high 
services to be commemorated, as to enter heartily 
into the spirit of the day. Then, when those con- 
ditions are met, it certainly is a noble and 
exalted tribute which is offered to a human being, 
in givmg to him a day in each year in the long 
succession of rolling seasons. What could be more 
impressive than the spectacle — the fact ? Behold 
how it addresses us ! Millions are arrested in their 
various pursuits, and an occasion is given to them 
free, not forced, to which they may attach a com- 
mon interest. If, according to our ages, condition 
and knowledge, we ask the reason of it, we are 
answered, just according to our ages, condition and 



6 



knowledge. The mature in mind and culture, who 
are well informed about the great men and the 
great events of history, can answer for themselves. 
They can compare the man for whom our high 
tribute is asked with the world's other honored 
magnates, and say- if either of them deserves that 
the day of his birth should be commemorated by a 
whole people, surely Washmgton deserves it. If 
the child asks the reason the parent must satisfy 
him according to the child's capacity. And so this 
is a lofty and noble tribute paid to a human 
being. It is a great honor to a man to live hon- 
orably in history ; to be kept alive in the memory 
of successive generations by a book — the compan- 
ion of quiet hours, the resource of solitude, the 
theme of silent thought. But it is a higher honor 
to have the almanac, the homely counsellor of 
every household, enter his name in the calendar of 
the year, affixed to one day as a national holi- 
day. That honor, in this age of the world, can- 
not be won except by the chiefest among the 
worthiest. There is one of the tests for marking 
the world's progress in spite of our hopelessness 
at times, over its abounding and its seemingly 
undiminished evils. The world once deified its 
bloodiest heroes. Many of those serene planets 
which float so sweetly above us by night in a fair 
sky, still bear the names of the gods and god- 
desses of a foul mythology. It was an easy thing 
to give a human name to an unconscious star ; it 



is not easy now to win homage to human great- 
ness, unless the aroma of high virtue makes the 
incense of our praise. 

Some of us, indeed, cannot but regret that, in 
connection with the inauguration of a holiday on 
Washington's birthday, our communities had not 
been prepared to honor and enjoy such an occa- 
sion in more befitting and appropriate ways than 
those which, for the most part, characterize our 
holidays. It seems that a mere clatter of noise, 
bells and cannon, is thought essential by our mag- 
istrates. Poor invalids and suiferers wish it could 
be otherwise. They think it hard enough for them 
to be confined from the general pleasure of the 
day, without havmg their racked nerves jarred by 
such a senseless clatter. But it must be so till 
the community are educated to something better. 
And something better will come from the observ- 
ance of this day. The name, the man, the honor 
associated with it, will help largely to elevate and 
improve the method of its observance. That is one 
of the best uses of a holiday, that if its occasion 
is a noble one, its influences, its uses, and its 
spirit, will ennoble and improve those who enjoy it, 
and will invent a befitting method for its observance. 
As time rolls on this day will be more and more 
honored, and more becomingly observed. The lapse 
of years which, heretofore, have gathered only mar- 
vellous and mythical legends about the memory 
of great men, will but more faithfully define and 



8 



authenticate the just honors of Washington. The 
spirit of the man will enter into the day, and 
cause that all that is said and done upon it shall 
be in keeping with his simple dignity, his noble 
grandeur of heart and life. As taste and art 
advance in our communities, statues of him will 
rise m halls and parks, and on this day they will 
be hung with fresh garlands, and processions of 
the young will pass before them, while the lips 
of the eloquent make the cold effigies of marble, 
or of bronze, to live with the beaming glory of I 

the praise offered to him whose mortal form it [ 

copies. J 

We may rejoice that by the precession of times and f 

seasons, the birthday of Washington will fall at regular t 

periods of years upon the Christian Sabbath — the day 
already marked by a higher consecration. Ministers 
of religion need not shrink from the theme w^hich 
to-day suggests itself to them. The space of tmie which 
the E-oman Church requires should intervene after 
the death of one of its more revered disciples, before 
it will entertain the question of canonizmg a mortal 
of the earth into a saint of the calendar, has already 
passed since Washington was laid in his honored grave. 
That old Church, with the same strange mixture of 
truth and fable, of reason and folly which attaches to 
all its functions, requires that a candidate for canoni- 
zation should not only be proved to have done eminent 
services in the name of God for humanity, but also 
to have wrought miracles. If we were content to 



regard as miracles, what have passed very easily 
before the ordeal of that Church as such, or if the 
evidence which has satisfied her tribunals on that 
point were enough for us, we might affirm that the 
power of Washington over the spirits of men, — his 
unharmed confronting of the elements — his charmed 
life against all the weapons of all battle-fields — his 
superiority to all the meannesses, and all the little- 
nesses of human passions, — that these were miracles. 
We do indeed so regard them, as miracles — but of 
Divine power, wrought through humanity, in one of 
the noblest forms in which it ever exhibited itself on 
this earth. We are content to offer to Washington 
such a canonization as a whole people in the wide, 
public, open fields of common life will ratify, while 
we leave to priestly conclaves, by their doubtful pro- 
cesses, to construct their own calendar of saints in 
their own way. We are content to rest the grounds 
of our homage to Washington on his character and 
services. Let the military profession vindicate its 
humanity, — aye, and its possible religious purity, by 
reminding us that Washington was a soldier. Let 
politicians make much in self-defence against the 
sweeping charges of corruj^tion visited on their office, 
of the plea that Washington, uncorrupted, unsus- 
pected, could mingle in and lead the jarring councils 
of a nation. He has redeemed both professions. 

xA.s befits this place, and hour, and occasion, let us 
turn the theme to our own edification. We ask often 
of the less distinguished among the departed — of those 



10 



more nearly loved, more affectionately mourned by us, 
because they were our own, — " Where are their 
spirits I " We feel the gentle powder of a tie which 
still binds us to them. We say that in our hearts 
surely is one end of a tender, but very strong and 
silken filament which stretches off into wide space, 
through the unseen and shadowy realm ; and we ask 
whether departed spirits have substance enough in 
them, — a hand of love, a heart of holy memories, — so 
that they can hold the other end of that little tender 
filament, and thus remain with us, and true to us still ] 
We ask whether the spirits of the dead know, and 
care for, the living^ We ask whether the spirit of 
Washington, lifted into higher realms, and joined in 
a noble fellowship of kindred spirits, is conscious of 
a world's homage — of a nation's venerating love ? If 
it be so, it is his life's reward; and it will stand as 
testimony in Heaven, that there is a common human 
heart, skilled to discern real worth, to distinguish 
the honor due for all services, and eager to pay its 
debt in pure gratitude. 

Our simple task shall be, to state plainly the rea- 
sons for making and reviewing the memorials of such 
a noble character — such a devoted and useful life. 

I. Such a commemoration furnishes a sort of gauge 
or test of the virtue and intelligence of a community. 
When a character like that of . Washington can be 
appreciated by millions in the same wny: when his 
noble traits can be fairly estimated : when the effect 



11 



of his character can be so fully felt: when we all 
know how to pay an appropriate and befitting tribute 
to him, — we may really believe that our community 
is enlightened, and that public virtue is something 
more than an empty boast. That character is as 
worthy of a close and analytical study by any one 
who would know what constitutes character in 
strength, in purity, and in dignity, as it is worthy of 
reverential admiration by those who feel its power 
without attempting or knowing how to explain it. 
We can feel its full power, however, only when we 
understand its composition, and trace out its work and 
manifestation in the toils and services of a singularly 
devoted life. It is remarkable that there is nothmg 
in that character to beguile us, to deceive us : no 
glitter, no brilliancy, even: no dazzling, captivating 
qualities. That character was not like a gem on whose 
sparkling angles, as we turn it about for inspection, 
the colored light is seen to play : nor is it like a 
metal which owes its lustre to a polish. It was solid, 
sterluig, material — all ore, no dross. There are no 
faults in that character of a sort to be apologised for, or 
palliated by a plea of ardent impulse in blood or nerve, 
or hot through generous passion of the soul. There 
are no vu'tues in that character of a sort to be treated 
with measured praise on the ground that they may be 
referred to a gentle nature, a calm temperament, 
a lethargic spirit, or, a tame soul. His native weak- 
nesses were the points at which he had strengthened 
instead of neglecting his character. His virtues were 



12 



points of character which he had cultivated patiently, 
with stern discipline, in the quiet secrecy of lonely 
struggles, in the heroic practice of daily self-control. 
The only depreciating criticism which has ever been 
brought to bear upon Washington is, that he was no 
genius,. — had none of the qualities of genius, — none of 
the daring, impulsive, ardent, or enthusiastic qualities 
which, rushing into action in one direction of energy, 
sway the spirits of men, and venture upon balanced 
risks, and defy all calculations of caution. No, he 
had no such qualities. And it is well for us that he 
had not. If Washington had been a genius of that 
sort, we should not have been as we now are, or, at 
least, the circumstances which have formed the training 
of ourselves, and of our nation, would have been quite 
different from what they have been in their working, 
if not in their results. There were occasions, at least 
a score of them, which the careful student of his 
military and civil services can easily point to, in either 
of which, if Washington had acted like what the world 
calls a genius, he would most probably have wrecked 
the trusts committed to him. His true glory stands 
apart and distinguished alike from the risks and from 
the successes which may hang on the hazard of a die, 
when impulse or rashness rules a man of mark or 
place. It is not among the least of the real lessons of 
wisdom, the real benefits to virtue, to be secured for 
many generations from that character, that it helps to 
correct the whole world's false estimate of what consti- 
tutes the true glory and dignity and distinction of 



18 



character. Must enthusiasm blaze, before it shall win 
honor for a calmer virtue and a sedate wisdom 1 Must 
we extol the most, those qualities which are as 
available and efficient for mischievous as for beneficent 
ends '? Or, shall w^e reserve our homage for qualities, 
which of theu' own essence are so temperate and calm 
and moderate, so high-toned and innocent and wise, 
that they cannot possibly work mischief, but must 
always work for good 1 In every scene and grade of 
human life, what are often called contemptuously the 
common-place virtues, are always the most valuable 
in action, the most missed when they are lacking. 
Dazzling qualities are generally perilous, and often 
really mischievous qualities. If we were to follow 
up the relations of human life, from those of the 
most private and humble, to those of the most public 
and conspicuous character, we should find the sterling 
qualities, the homely virtues of integrity, prudence, 
calmness, reserve of speech, determination of purpose, 
and plodding industry, to be the best for the world's 
common work, and the only safe ones for its great 
emergencies. Brilliant men are not the wisest. The 
rash are as likely to meet great failures, as great 
successes. No good use has ever yet been found for 
comets. We gaze at them as spectacles. Sometimes 
they frighten us. We think equal mischief may come 
from the small part of them, which is solid, and 
from the immense trail sweepmg on after them, which 
is but vapor and mist. 

Worthy then of the closest study, and of the most 



14 



careful analysis, is the character of Washington, as 
shining only in the lustre of combined but not 
dazzling qualities of virtue. His aim in the forma- 
tion and training of his own character, seems to 
have been to hide its graces beneath its strength. 
The best proof of the consolidated power of that 
character was its mighty sway over others. The 
impulsive and the rash felt the spell of its subduing 
calm. The dastardly and the base needed not words 
from his lips to rebuke them — they read their sen- 
tence in his eye. The net-work of complicated 
perils and duties with which he had to deal, when 
first entrusted with the military enterprises of this 
nation, involved responsibilities and risks which would 
have baffled any mere genius that the world has 
ever yet seen. Very near to the spot where we 
are now assembled, he learned his first large lessons 
in that wonderful self-mastery which gifted him with 
a most cunning skill, and a most penetrating wisdom, 
for his work. If the annual commemoration of his 
character shall lead to such a study of it, it will 
benefit all who so pursue it. 

The depreciating criticism which has challenged 
his claim to greatness because he was no genius in 
art or arms, in statesmanship or in affairs, has occa- 
sionally been followed by some foreign writers into 
terms of detraction. He has been pronounced sensi- 
ble rather than wise, discriminating rather than dis- 
cerning, prudent rather than sagacious, dull rather 
than earnest. The homely virtues of thrift, economy 



15 



and caution have been freely yielded to him, for the 
sake of adding, by implication or assertion, that these 
virtues become less commendable in proportion to the 
elevation of the trust or the station in which they are 
exhibited. Even ridicule has found material for its 
poor skill, in examining the detailed accounts of 
domestic expense, which the biographer of Washing- 
ton has printed as illustrating his supervision of his 
affairs in farm and household. We quote, to the 
praise of the patriot, his own frank and generous res- 
olution which he uttered when he accepted his great 
command, — that he would receive from it no emolu- 
ment but look to the nation merely to reimburse his 
personal expenses, an accurate account of which he 
promised to keep. But foreign criticism has affirmed 
that it Avas beneath the stately standard of dignity 
for a great man when accepting a high trust, and 
returning his pledges of fidelity in it even before 
such a body as a rebel Congress, to make a refer- 
ence to his " pay," or to have an eye to " his expen- 
ses." We should be afraid to trust a man who would 
so think evil of a frank and self-renouncing regard 
to economy. Such a critic could hardly be confided 
in amid the risks of official fidelity. The next thing 
to a disesteem of frugal, economical and unselfish 
principles in private or public responsibilities, is a 
disregard of honesty when opportunity is ofiered 
for lavish expenditure from a free treasury. We 
may grieve that Mt. Vernon, the loved home of 
the patriot, shows signs of decay. But is not the 



16 



waste and rubbish of its frail wooden walls a more 
pleasant spectacle, — yes, and more in keeping with 
the unostentatious simplicity of its honored master, 
than we should have found in a stately and en- 
during fabric, with all lavish adornments, erected 
from the savings of his " pay," and the perquisites 
of office 1 This scrupulous regard for thrift and 
economy is to be reckoned among the virtues of 
Washington. It was a pillar of strength and in- 
tegrity in his own character. It was an exemjDlary 
and representative quality to be set before this 
nation in a signal token of its importance, when 
the cost of a long warfare could not be counted, 
and "paper money" was offering a dangerous facility 
in improvidence. This scrupulousness was also set to 
guard the motives, that it might guard the fair 
fame of Washington. No man would have dared 
to offer him a bribe ; he felt that it would be un- 
wise for him even to receive presents in some of 
the more critical periods of his public life. I have 
seen among his papers, a letter from a dear friend 
and neighbor of his Virginia home, asking his ac- 
ceptance, while with the army at Cambridge, of a 
horse and its caparisons for the battle-field. An en- 
dorsement, by his own hand, on the back of the 
letter, reads thus — " The offer not accepted." 

As reference has thus been made to some deprecia- 
tory criticisms of his character from foreign sources, it 
is proper to add, that a noble author, — the last British 
historian or writer who has treated the theme, — 



17 



pays an exalted tribute to Washington, measured 
by no traditional hostility, and expressed in such 
appreciative terms of praise, as an hereditary peer 
might offer to a revolutionary soldier and a republican 
statesman. Lord Mahon's eulogium of Washington 
would well bear quotation in a sermon, did space 
allow* 

Not, however, by summaries of encomium gather- 
ing all virtues linked with fitting epithets into 
tributes in words, — not by the splendors of rhe- 
torical imagery in the delineation of great traits of 
character, but by the musings of a well-filled mind, 
and the severer processes of a discerning heart, are 
we made to feel the true moral impression from 
the soul of Washington. We must lift our eyes 
from the printed page which rehearses his biography, 
and must paint in fancy the scenes in which he acted. 
We must know much, and imagme more. We must 
reconstruct the past, with its perplexities and 



* " So equally framed were the features of his mind, so harmonious all its proportions, that 
no one quality rose salient above the rest. * * * There was no contrast of lights and shades ; no 
flickering of the flame ; it was a mild light that seldom dazzled, but that ever cheered and 
warmed. * * * He decided surely, though he deliberated slowly : nor could any urgency or 
peril move him from his serene composure, his calm, clear-headed good sense. Integrity and 
truth were also ever present in his mind. Not a single instance, as I believe, can be found in 
his whole career when he was impelled by any but an upright motive, or endeavoured to attain 
an object by any but worthy means. Such are some of the high qualities which have justly 
earned for General Washington the admiration even of the country he opposed, and not merely 
the admiration but the gratitude and affection of his own. Such was the pure and upright 
spirit to which, when its toils were over, and its earthly course had been run, was offered the 
unanimous homage of the assembled Congress, all clad in deep mourning for their common loss, 
as to ' the man first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens.' At this 
day in the United States, the reverence for his character is, as it should be, deep and universal, 
and not confined, as with nearly all our English statesmen, to one party, one province, or one 
creed. Such reverence for Washington is felt even by those who wander furthest from the paths 
in which he trod. * * * Thus may it be said of this most virtuous man, what in days of old was 
said of Virtue herself, that even those who depart most widely from her precepts, still keep holy 
and bow down to her name." — Lord Mahon^s History of England, Tol. VI., pp. 51, 52. 
3 



18 



anxieties, — its agitations and its prospects. We must 
plant Washington in his own centre, and find tlie 
circumference which comprehended the range of his 
plans and responsibility. We must even delineate 
the countenances of those who were watching him, 
and j)eiietrate to the motives of those who were 
judging him, if we would know him down to the 
depths of his soul. And while we are proving him, 
we shall try ourselves. 

I have said that some considerable length of time 
must necessarily pass for the trial-test of a character 
before the human being, whose life and soul it em- 
bodies, can be lifted into exalted regard, and be 
commemorated by a nation, by the world. Time is 
needed for passion to grow calm : for petty prejudices 
to subside : for the discussion of all fair issues : for 
candid and patient study of character : for its com- 
parison with other characters, and for the slow and 
wise estimate of its w^eight of virtue, the value of 
its services. Time has made most faithfully that 
trial of the character of Washington. Nobly does 
it stand the test; steady and clear is its light. No 
developments of things hidden by friendship, or 
covered by pohcy; no secrets drawn from private 
papers — those silent witnesses which have often proved 
the ruin of shining reputation — have transpired to the 
discredit of Washington. Time, we know, bleaches 
out some stains upon the lives of men and causes 
them to fade away from memory and from record. 
And time, as we also know, deepens some such stains, 



19 



causes them to strike in like corruption, or to waste 
and destroy like rust. But time has done neither 
this kindly nor this hostile service to Washington. 
He is not indebted to oblivion for covering his 
faults, and blanching spots in his character — nor 
need he shrink from that light which strengthens 
as we gaze upon the lineaments of his soul. I know 
of no character among the great in history which 
verifies and illustrates so well as his that beautiful 
oracle of Hebrew piety, which tells us that " the 
path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth 
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day," — like a 
star whose beams know no waning, and are ever 
strengthening on in glory. Eminently and literally 
is this true of the memory and the fame of Wash- 
ington. The greatest of Homan orators, speakmg in 
courteous eulogy of the greatest of Roman generals, 
said that " the fame of his deeds and virtues is 
compassed withm the same bounds and limits which 
restrain the courses of the sun. " f " Cujus res 
gestcB atque virtutes ilsdem, quihus solis cursus, re- 
gionihus ac terminis continentur." J And this is the 
literal truth concerning the fame of Washington — 
imder these striking changes of circumstance, fact 
and estimate, since the Roman orator used that bold 
rhetoric, that another hemisphere has been opened 
for the sun's course, and millions have been added 
to the world's population, and a Christian standard 
has been set for character. 

Steadily, calmly, always strengthening and extend- 



20 



ing, has his fame passed on, with the passage of 
time, and the trial of all its tests. Never blazing — 
never Startling — never associated with amazed or 
hesitating tributes, but always serene and lofty, as it 
wins admiration — even despots and tyrants have paid 
their homage to that character. The letters addressed 
to Washington, by wise and good men, — not by 
sycophants nor flatterers, but by men loyal to the truth 
in all things, — prove how he was appreciated in life 
by the best judges of character. The public testi- 
monials which he received, from bodies representing 
constituencies of every size and sort, — states, counties, 
cities, towns, learned societies, popular assemblages, 
charitable associations, and religious fraternities, — all 
reveal to us, what impressions of respect were 
wrought in with his very name for human hearts. 
His death, — sudden, startling to the nation, — called 
forth tributes such as never were, and, probably, 
never will be, paid to any other human being. 
The oratory of the heart was then engaged in 
plaint and eulogy, in dirge and sermon, in every 
village of the land. Quiet country ministers who 
had never been known to be eloquent before, and 
had never suspected themselves of the power or gift 
of eloquence, found living thoughts, and a golden 
speech, and a sweet and fluent tongue for his 
loving commemoration. The papers of every man 
in the country, who had ever spoken in public 
upon any subject, have been found to contain some 
memorial of Washington. The letters passing be- 



21 



tween friends, — from brothers to sisters, from fathers 
to sons, from mothers to daughters, — are filled with 
those touches of natural sadness which do not 
always bedew the death of the nearest of kin 
among the earth's families. Then and thus did the 
keenness of a public sorrow strike down deep into 
millions of hearts, and plant there the seeds which 
have been growing ever since, as the garlands and 
laurels of the beloved Father of his country. I have 
found no croak of raven, no mean insinuation of 
secret foe, no unseemly defiance of public gratitude 
or national grief, among all that remains to inform 
us of the obsequies of him who had a funeral and 
a burial in every settlement of the country. 

Then, when grief subsided, men and women and 
children began to study that character. His life was 
written by a jurist, by a minister, and by a scholar — 
all eminently distmguished in their several profes- 
sions — while the most interesting tales which could 
be told to the young, and the most engaging lessons 
of the school-room were drawn from his career. 
According to the bent of different judgments, dif- 
ferent standards were applied to his character. While 
some were content to expatiate on the value of his 
services to the country because he was so good a 
man, others with a curious though instructive method 
of estimate, tried to show how much mischief he 
might have done if he had been a bad man. He- 
calling that very alarming anxiety and dread con- 
nected with his first appointment to command our 



22 



armies, the only feeling indeed that abated from the 
entire confidence which all reposed in him, viz., the 
dread of Avhat might grow out of a trust of mili- 
tary power, the supreme dictatorship committed to 
one man, if he should prove perfidious or ambitious, — 
recalling that fear, men admired the simple dignity 
with which he resigned his pure trophies, and 
sheathed, without ambition, his unspotted sword. We 
have no idea how intense the dread was, at Wash- 
ington's appointment, lest he might be a traitor to 
patriotism, through the lure of military glory. When 
the new commander was on his way here from his 
woodland home to assume that tremendous trust com- 
mitted to him, the President of the New York 
Congress, in what was designed for a complimentary 
and congratulatory address to him, uttered this fear 
certainly in an uncourteous, almost in an insulting, 
way. Anticipating the close of the struggle, before 
it had really begun, Mr. Livingston told Washington 
that he would be expected " cheerfully to resign the 
important deposit committed into his [your] hands, 
and re-assume the character of our worthiest citizen." 
That fear, lest Washington might prove a traitor to 
a holy cause, did not lack mean men and mean 
agencies for keeping it aUre during his whole mili- 
tary service. And when his honored dignity in the 
retirement of private life stood contrasted with the 
bugbear fright of AVashington arrayed in the scarlet 
and armor of despotism, how did men love him as 
the Patriot ! 



23 



And then, too, some began to discuss, under covert, 
the question as to his rehgion. Was he a believer 
in God] — a disciple of Christ ? — in the hope of a 
Future life] There were not wanting insinuations 
that he was but a seemly conformer to the shows 
of religion, but was actually in spirit a doubter, 
without faith, no witness for piety. Mean men, 
judging him by themselves, said this. Others claimed 
him for this or that sect. The facts of the case 
are lucid, unmistakeable, — like all facts concerning 
Washington. In private and in public, in observance, 
and in heart, — so far as man can judge the heart, — 
he was a believer, and a Christian believer ; and a 
consistently religious man. His speech, his de- 
meanor, his habits of life were all in keeping with 
this. In his private and public letters, he recognised 
the duties, the laws, the restraints, the hopes of 
Christian piety. He referred his great cause to 
God amid its opening fears, he returned his grate- 
ful thank-oiFering to God for its happy issue. He 
rebuked profanity ; he demanded reverence and devout 
attendance on worship from his soldiers. Previous 
to assuming his military trust, he was an habitual 
participant in the Lord's Supper ; but appears to 
have failed of such an observance except on one, 
perhaps two occasions during the war. Upon his 
motive for such a change in his devout habit, who 
shall presume to speculate"? But may we not infer 
that, in one so just, considerate, and severely true, 
as was Washington, some scruple of conscience, from 



24 



the distractions of warfare, from a work of blood 
and from an agitated heart, kept him from that 
tender and hallowed rite? 

Once more Washington, the champion of liberty, 
had lived as a slaveholder. His last will and testa- 
ment provided for the emancipation of his slaves, in 
calmly-written sentences, which condemn the system. 
That fact needs no comment. 

Thus has time applied its tests to that character, 
and lifted it to the highest the serenest heights of 
glory. The deep pensiveness, the solemn gravity of 
his look on the canvas, tell us what his thoughts 
must have been, as he meditated the trusts com- 
mitted to him under depressing circumstances. His 
greatness was the gift of nature, — his virtue was the 
fruit of culture. He proved his judgment by freely 
consulting the opinions of others, — his wisdom by 
making an opinion of his own. His trials of principle 
strengthened as men learned the value of his 
services ; and so, age and honors gave him no dis- 
charge. His very name has acquired sweetness and 
sanctity, so that when it rises to the lips, the 
heart swells to speak it as it deserves. 

II. Another large and fruitful benefit to be gained 
by the public commemoration of Washington is, 
that his character verifies all our good maxims, 
turns the common-place counsels of virtue into de- 
monstrated truths, and proves that the practice of 
certain rules, and the obedience of certain principles, 



25 



will surely culminate into excellence, and perhaps 
into eminence. We have thousands who teach vir- 
tue, without the illustration of their lives. Its best 
lessons, even in the choicest words in which we 
can put them, are stale, familiar, perhaps weari- 
some. Washington formed his character bv those 
rules ; he wrote them down upon paper when he 
was a child; he remembered them daily when he 
was a man. We may assign all his virtue and all 
his -distinctions severally to each of those rules. 
Now it is a great and a good thing for us 'to 
have so eminent an illustration and proof, that 
when mere verbal precepts and homely counsels and 
common-place methods are really brought to bear 
consistently and habitually in life, they will be 
sure to result in the formation of a sterling char- 
•acter. So was it with Washington. Written rules 
for his conduct, his way of living, feeling, speak- 
ing and acting, for treating parents and compan- 
ions, begin his own record of his life. He who 
was to rule others owned his subjection. Filial 
love and obedience, — the mockery of some young- 
candidates for a reckless and dishonored career, — 
were to him holy and spontaneous, and, also, cul- 
tivated duties for each day. Sincere religious faith, 
yes, the noblest and most precious sort of faith, 
had sway in his heart. He neither boasted of 
devout and religiously conscientious feeling, nor 
shrank from the confession of it. He never ob- 
truded inopportunely his faith and confidence in 



26 



the sovereign control of Providence, and he never 
apologized for believing in God. He could corres- 
pond with the Puritan Governor of Connecticut, 
whose phrases of piety might have been mistaken for 
those of an elder in Israel, or an old Covenanter; 
and he could hold intercourse with the profane but 
patriotic partizan in the New Hampshire hills ; he 
could use the good language of faith and trust to 
each, and win from both the confidence that goes 
only with real religion. Washington comes before 
us in the first bloom of manhood, as leading the 
devotions of a motley garrison of grimly-painted 
Indians and border white men, gathered in a wilder- 
ness fort. Again, we view him reverently and sadly 
reading the burial service over the hurried and dreary 
obsequies of his General in that disastrous campaign 
where he won his early honors. As he breathed the 
words of prayer over his imj^etuous leader, he knew, 
perhaps he was thinking that if his own modest 
advice had been followed by the dead Braddock, they 
would probably have been shouting together at that 
very moment the paeans of victory. The charm, the 
impression of every religious recognition made by 
Washington of his faith or feeling come from the 
way in which he made it — not in the stereotyped 
phrases, not m the formal style of habit or custom, 
but m the spontaneous and natural outgoings of the 
heart. He was the only commander of armies who 
was satisfied to be his own chaplaui. While he 
recognized the official channels for his intercourse 



27 



with cabinet and congress, he felt that Heaven was 
immediately over him, and that his intercourse with 
God might be direct; as it were, face to face. His 
dignity was a mo8t marked feature of his character, 
but it was the growth and garb of a high-toned soul, 
not the drapery of a pampered pride. 

His first assertion of the rights of his manhood 
against the wishes of a widowed mother brought 
into conflict two promment elements of his char- 
acter — strong private affection and honorable ambi- 
tion in public service. He reconciled here, as ever 
afterwards, the conflict between feeling and a sense 
of duty, by following a conscientious principle. 
Again, when he prepared to identify himself with 
the early struggles for colonial independence, his 
patriotism had to triumph over strong ties of friend- 
ship. Indeed, he himself belonged to the only class 
of persons on this soil to whom a rupture Avith its 
foreign rulers was sure to involve a positive loss, 
pecuniarily and socially; as his social relations and 
his commercial interests connected him with those 
whose foreign sympathies were strongest. It is 
refreshing to the careful reader of our history, to 
be assured through such a convincing case as that 
of Washington, that the purity of our cause was 
thus redeemed from all suspicion of passion or folly. 
For our history at that epoch is not all to our 
honor, nor to the honor of all the prominent 
movers in discontent and revolution. There were 
windy and blustering declaimers, suspicious dema- 



28 



gogues, and self-seeking calculators in those days, 
as in our own. But it will always stand among the 
best vindications of our cause, that the noble heart 
of Washington approved it, and pleaded for it with 
a peaceful and earnest pen before he drew the 
sword, resolved never to sheathe it again till the 
right should triumph. 

It seems but little to add in praise of such a 
man, that he practised the humane vu'tues. Famil- 
iarity with battle-fields, the counting off of human 
beings by thousands for the ruthless carnage of 
war, has been said to render a commander reckless 
of life; to steel his gentle feelings, to harden his 
heart. But it was not so with him. He never, 
never lost his tender consideration for all that is 
humane, tender, compassionate, and forbearing. He 
shared the hard winter straits and privations of his 
soldiers, that his sense of keen sympathy might 
not be blunted. Even in the assaults and discom- 
fitures which he was compelled to inflict upon 
the ranks of the enemy, he always took care first 
to ofiier an honorable method for relief; and, sec- 
ond, to provide the means of merciful treatment 
when his end was gained; then the blow fell in 
manly, honest fidelity, to a just cause. Nor can I 
close without recognizing it as among the especial 
favors of Providence to this much favored land and 
nation, that our chief, our first great ruler, was so 
wise, so virtuous, so honored a man. A nation's 
history is one chief element of its life. When I 



29 



think how the minds of thousands of young boys, 
of ardent and generous temperament, are every year 
engaged in their first fresh vigor of curiosity in 
reading with kindred soul, the high deeds of the 
past, I know they must catch a spirit from the 
page. They love the excitement of stirring events 
' in perils, risks, and threatened catastrophes. They 
can discern with an instinct which God has given 
them what is noble and what is mean in character. 
Their own characters, their own lives, take a color- 
ing from what they admire or scorn. Patriotism and 
virtue will owe an unmeasured amount of their 
power over our succeeding generations, to the influ- 
ence of the spirit of Washington over young read- 
ers of his life. That he who grew to be such a 
man was once a boy, will be to them a key to 
much of the noblest wisdom, the highest virtue of 
life. And so is it a blessing to us all, that our 
chief, the Father of our republic, was a pure and 
an upright man. Not to a pagod marvel-worker, 
not to a mythical or legendary monster, not to a 
cunning diplomatist, nor to a blood-stained soldier 
of fortune, do we trace up our nation's origin or 
glory. It is to a serenely good, wise, and great 
man ; a man about whom a fable would be the silli- 
est of follies, and an exaggeration of praise would 
stand rebuked as a breach of good taste, which 
reflected only on the unskillful flatterer. 

God be praised for his gift to us in that noble 
soul, that tried, devoted, and well-spent life. May 



30 



he stand, not as our idol, but as our memorial of 
God. May he, as the central figure on our past his- 
tory, be the model for all who shall succeed him in 
his high office. To his place and functions only can 
they succeed by the people's will, but not to his hon- 
ors, except as they wear the mantle and have the 
soul of his virtues. May he who in a few days is 
to be inaugurated in the seat of Washington, to fill 
the highest place of dignity and power which the 
world can bestow, remember what honor is derived 
from it, and what honor can be added to it by its 
honorable occupancy and service. May the spirit of 
wisdom and of righteousness which guided Washing- 
ton guide and master him ! 



C0miwcm0rati0n of Masjiiugton. 


A 

DI S C U RS K 


(ON THE NEW HOLIDAY,) 


PREACHED IN 


HARVARD CHURCH, CHARLESTOWN, 


1 

! ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 22, 1857. 


BY 


GEORGE E. ELLIS. 


CHARLESTOWN : 


ABRAM E. CUTTER. 


1857. 



m- 



h % 




VM^ 



% 






^v* 




Tf 




^. 



^i 


^ 


;^^ 
^><j^ 


jfcc ^> 5^ 


\Jk,^Jir^dj 




^''S^4r 


?^« 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




01 1 895 964 4 # 



•■'il*v 






•m:^* 






m 



-im^ ^ 



m4 



\ H 






. ^ , ■« • **!- 



